I once felt
lead into asking a girl out by the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, I feel like I took over the leading and that is when I lost her after a
month of dating. To this day, I feel like God had led me to her in that manner.
At first, our dates were good. I
feel that because of my past, however (meaning that I was stuck in my behavior
patterns), that I took things into my own hands when we were dating. The times
were so enjoyable for both of us at first that I just wanted to have longer
periods of them, as often as possible. Needless to say, things started to fall
out of my control as time went on.
I
talked with my dad about a man I have known practically since birth
whom I found out was a heavy equipment operator and I asked my dad if he was working (because times are tough and it
happened to be winter months at the time) and he didn’t believe he was. I then asked him if
he was a good operator and my dad replied that he doesn’t do what the bosses
want him to do, and that could be why he doesn’t work all the time. I told my
dad that I am regretfully the same way. I like to do things my way. God seems to sometimes allow a person
to get into situations in order to teach them.
Redesign:
The
Holy Spirit is telling me that I must not only do things His way, or the way of
others, but that I must not do things MY
way:
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with
wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures...
You adulterous people,
don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?
Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of
God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for
the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is
why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to
the humble.”
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn
and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (NIV James 4).
And again:
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care,
watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God
wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording
it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the
Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never
fade away.
In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to
your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another,
because,
“God opposes the
proud
but shows favor to
the humble.”
Humble yourselves,
therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast
all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (NIV 1 Peter 5).
See also Proverbs 18:22: “He who finds a wife finds what is
good and receives favor from the LORD.”
Can God
fill the woman shaped hole in our lives? YES! "Jesus answered, “It is written:
‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth
of God” (Mathew 4:4). If God can fill our stomachs without food, the same logic
applies. Compare with Phil. 4:11-12. In other words, we as men might recognize this "woman shaped hole" as such, but in the end, God is all we need. He provides for our every need.
"This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength
from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. That person will be
like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They
will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one
lives. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that
sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves
are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to
bear fruit” (NIV Jer. 17:5-8).
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus
© Nace Howell, 2022
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